What really went on at the Nazi
concentration camp, Dachau, before (and after) April
1945?

Photo: Gastight shower door at Dachau camp
[from Irving collection]

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The
Nature of the Controversy

On April 16, 1989
ABK
circulated this
opinion about the "Allied Shootings at
Dachau".

Gentlemen: Today
during break I found a book at Barnes & Noble which
has just been published, entitled, "The Rock of Anzio:
The 45th Infantry Division in World War II" by
Flint Whitlock.

Photo:German
civilians and American officers view bodies of twenty
typhus dead found at a German concentration camp in
1945.[From Irving
Collection].

In the final chapter of the book the author describes
the liberation of Dachau in great detail, relying mostly
on the testimonies of veterans, but from which copious
extracts have been taken. There is however an important
primary source that is referenced, and I will return to
this in a moment.

The text clarifies the American actions in that camp
considerably, in my opinion.

Apparently, at one point, a number of Germans were
lined up against a wall and told to stand there with
their hands up. Over time, they began to lower their
hands. A soldier set up a machine gun, in order to guard
them, and when the prisoners saw this they began to move,
thinking they were about to be shot. At this point the
machine gunner opened fire, numerous testimonies mention
only a short burst, of this group about 17 were killed.
Most of the rest of the group hit the ground, at the
urging of an older German prisoner on the scene. Three
remained standing, no doubt in shock. An officer or
senior non-com saw all of this happening, and immediately
went over and kicked the machine gunner in the back,
asking him what he was doing. The gunner looked up and
was crying. This officer pulled out his pistol and fired
several shots into the air, attempting to restore
order.

This sequence of events sounds very plausible to me,
and puts the well known photograph (reproduced in his
book, "Nuremberg:
The Last Battle") in a completely different
context. However, for all that, there were several other
shootings at the camp at the time of the liberation. Mr.
Whitlock reveals that there were half a dozen
recommendations for courts martial at the time (including
Lieutenant Bushyhead), according to the IG report
that Whitlock was apparently the first to locate.

This report now lies in Washington, I believe, and is
referenced in footnote #123 to Chapter 11 (I might be
slightly off on this reference).

Photo:
German Guards with Red Cross flag surrender at Dachau,
shortly before being massacred
[Irving
collection].

I STRONGLY recommend that you read "Dachau: The Hour
of the Avenger" by Col. Howard A. Buechner
Medical Corps A.U.S. Ret. on this topic.

According to that volume, "12 or 15 SS guards ... had
been lined up and shot in front of a large machine shop."
This account sounds close to the one that you quote above.
However, there were numerous additional shootings of Dachau
guards. Buechner documents 122 Killed on the spot, 40 Killed
by camp inmates, 12 Machine gunned by "Birdeye", 346
Machine-gunned by Lt. Bushyhead. 520 is the total
thus executed.

Note that this volume was written as a first hand
account. In addition there was a television documentary
detailing similar figures presented in this book. I think
the suggestion that the German soldiers merely dropped to
the ground is both false and naive. There is a later
photograph of two inmates preparing to kill a fallen SS
guard with a shovel. In the background one can see the rows
of machine gunned guards. This is reproduced on p.114 of
Buechner's book.

A less clear and differently cropped version of this
photo appears on p. 178 of Arthur Butz's
"Hoax." Interestingly the events on "liberation" day
were captured on film. There is a 30 minute video which
Bradley Smith was selling showing the machine gunning. I am
not sure if Bradley is still offering this - it was titled,
"Dachau: The Secret Footage." I do know that Fritz
Berg has a copy of the video.

I suggest that, "The Rock of Anzio: The 45th Infantry
Division in World War II" by Flint Whitlock sounds as if
it is attempting to cover up this American atrocity.